My Website Keeps Meeting People Before I Do

Back in August, I sat down to interview an adjunct instructor at The University of Texas at Austin. It almost went sideways, and it was entirely my fault. For his part, my subject was warm, friendly, and talkative, which gave me a ton of great material with which to write an article. The problem, if an outside observer would call it that, was something he said in the first two minutes of the Zoom call.

"So, I was checking out your website."

Armed with the full knowledge of how many subscribers my newsletter has and how paltry my website hits are, I tend to think of my website as a narrowcast to a small but rabid group of cyberpunk enthusiasts and their moms. So when someone from outside that world says they've been peeking over the fence, I tend to get nervous.

What was the last post I wrote? Was it too political? Too controversial? Too stupid?

The moment reminded me of another interview from a couple years ago when I was trying to land a Technical Support Manager role at a small company up north. As the appointed time approached, I started to notice an uptick in traffic to my website (yes, I'm always watching, so what, want to fight about it?). All of it came from the same city where the company was headquartered. Coincidence? I think not.

My most recent post at that time was: How to Add Your Participation in the January 6th Perfectly Fine Gathering to Your Resume Now That You've Been Pardoned

Needless to say, I didn't get the job. I can't say with certainty that the J6 blog post had anything to do with that decision, but it did get me thinking:

Should my author website and blog be at the same address?

I've thought about this question for decades, ever since I first registered danielverastiqui.com in 2004. And my answer has always been the same: try something for a while, then change. Switching to Ghost a couple years ago felt like it was going to be the end of that cycle. After all, it's got the built-in newsletter, can hide my stories behind a free paywall, and isn't so customizable that I waste time tweaking fonts when I should be writing books.

The problem with Ghost is that it wants to be a blog, and lately, I've been wanting a professional, modern-looking virtual business card for my books. When my future interview subjects (or future employers) look me up, I want them to find "Daniel Verastiqui, the Science Fiction Author" and not "Daniel Verastiqui, My God What Has He Posted Now?"

To that end, I've decided to split this entire enterprise down the middle. My author site will be staying at danielverastiqui.com, but the blog, newsletter, Flashes from the Verse, and everything else will be moving to a new domain: corticaldrift.com.

I know change can be scary, so I've prepared an FAQ to help you with this transition. Trust me, this is for the best. If no one will hire me because I think corpo-fascists are the devil, then I won't have the free time to write the "corpo-fascists are the devil" cyberpunk thrillers you all know and love.

There's nothing you need to do. Just burn the name CORTICAL DRIFT into your cortex so that when all the branding changes out from under you, you'll know it's still the same website, same content, and same insane writer behind the scenes.

Frequently Asked Questions About Rebranding This Website

Wait, so what's happening?

We're rebranding. The website, the stationery, me. The blog is moving to a new home called Cortical Drift, at corticaldrift.com. It'll be the same content, just with a new coat of lipstick.

What is Cortical Drift anyway?

The cortex is the wrinkly outer layer of your brain where all the thinking supposedly happens. Drift is a polite way of referring to my tendency to let my mind wander. Honestly, it's just what came out of the Sorta Cool, Kinda Techy Domain Name Generator after I pressed the button fifty times.

So what's changing?

Mostly just the names. The blog gets its own domain and its own identity, covering writing, books, gaming, movies, and the occasional literary essay nobody asked for. The novels won't have their own pages on corticaldrift.com, but there will be links back to my author website if you ever miss them.

Is danielverastiqui.com going away? I'm not ready for that.

No. It's becoming the business card. Book pages, covers, an About page, and hopefully nothing that would alarm a recruiter. Professional, tidy, and probably 75% generated by Claude Code.

Will the old links break?

Who are you? Google?! Let me worry about the redirects. I know all the numbers. 301. 404. 187. I got you.

Will you still post stories and flashes?

Of course. Vanity demands it.

Do I need to resubscribe to the newsletter? ⭐

No. It'll keep showing up in your inbox every two weeks. I'll still be posting about my books along with everything else, so there won't be a second newsletter to subscribe to or anything like that.

When is this happening?

Either tomorrow or by the end of 2028. I really don't like to plan things. I go on instinct. There's also a small chance I never do it, so yeah.

Should we put paper bags over our heads?

If you like, yes.

Anything else we should know?

Marketing is hard, and this may all be a bad idea. But the posts people actually read here have always been the ones where I wandered off topic. Cortical Drift just puts a name on that wandering.

Questions? Comments? Complaints?

Me too, y'all. Me too.

Oh, and as for the interview, my subject read the Billy Madison post. So it's fine. We're fine.